Rural students are being left behind in China

摘要

People in China have used education to boost their social standing and economic status for centuries. The belief that the system is fair and meritocratic is enshrined in the long-standing motto: "Knowledge can change fate." Yet for many of the 9.4 million Chinese teenagers who completed their high-school graduation exams earlier this month, the situation is not so simple. A damaging divide has opened between the academic performance of young people from urban and rural areas. This is unfair, restricts opportunity and could stop promising talent from heading into science.